Social and Political Thought of Julius Evola

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Julius Evola wrote over 36 books and over 1100 articles from 1924 until his death in 1974. His writing covered a vast range of subjects, from a distinctive and categorical ideological outlook and has been extremely influential on a significant number of extreme right thinkers, activists and organisations. This book is the first full length study in English to present his political thought to a wider audience, beyond that of his followers and sympathisers, and to bring into the open the study of a neglected strand of contemporary Western thought, that of traditionalism.Evola deserves more attention because he is an influential writer. His following comes from an important if largely ignored political movement: activists and commentators whose political positions are, like his, avowedly traditionalist, authoritarian, anti-modern, anti-democratic and anti-liberal. With honourable exceptions, contemporary academic study tends to treat these groups as a minority within a minority, a sub-species of Fascism, from whom they are held to derive their ideas and their support. One of the book's aims is to bring out more clearly the complexity of Evola's post-war strategy, so as to explain how he can be adopted both by the neo-fascist groups committed to violence, and by groups such as the European New Right whose approach is more aimed at influence from within liberal democracies. There is also recognition of the relevance of his ideas to anti-globalisation arguments, including a re-examination of his arguments for detachment and spontaneism (apolitia).The impetus for translation of his work into English comes predominantly from North America. It reflects to a limited extent the exasperated millenarianism of some of the racist right, who can certainly find arguments and strategies in Evola's work. A more important association is with the resurgence of interest of American conservatives in the cultural traditions from which anti-Enlightenment thinkers such as Voegelin and Strauss drew intellectual support, including Carl Schmitt, with whom Evola corresponded.